GERALDTON -- Volunteering does not have to be a difficult thing to do. Students from St. Edward Catholic School, SNCDSB, Grade 8 class in Geraldton, proved that enthusiastically.
Just before the end of their school year, the class was working on an art assignment, called “Art plant”. The teacher that day, who happened to also be a member of the community’s Royal Canadian Legion Branch #32, thought that it might be nice to get them to participate in an outdoor activity related to that art work.
Unknown to the students, the Royal Canadian Legion had asked their own members to help clean up the area around the legion and prepare their flower beds for the season. As a member of the legion, the teacher who was in the Grade 8 classroom that day decided to ask her principal if the Grade 8 class could help with this. Her view was that instead of doing this art work indoors, why not give the class an opportunity to be engaged outdoors and do something that helped an organization within their community.
That morning, the class walked over to the legion and volunteered their time and effort to help weed out the area around the legion building and prepare the flower beds for the season.
Margaret Somerleigh, president of the Royal Canadian Legion Branch #32 described the enthusiasm of the students. She shared how that morning she supplied them with gloves, and garbage bags and the tools necessary to complete the task. “It was quite warm that morning, so I supplied the kids with some pop, which was a small token of our appreciation. The kids were very respectful and polite,” stated Someleigh.
The students and the Legion both said agreed it was a worthwhile activity. “All of them were eager to do this and it gave them a bit of ownership, helping to prepare the flower beds,” said Somerleigh. It is a place that the students could walk by and see how their work was helpful. It taught them that taking time to volunteer in their community was not that hard to do.
